Chandavarkar, who was active in forming the national cultural policy with the Union HRD department, will be remembered as an intellectual with a vision. Born and brought up in Pune, he completed his graduation from Wadia College and studied contemporary music. He began training in classical music under Pandit Ravi Shankar in the late 1950s.

He headed the Film and Television Institute of India’s music department from 1967 for 15 years. After 1982, he began working as a freelance composer and travelled across the US and Europe for concerts. He was presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar in 1988 by the then President R Venkatraman. He composed music for over 100 films and dramas that include Shwaas, Ghashiram Kotwal, Teen Paishacha Tamasha, Saamna, Sinhasan, Raosaheb, Thodasa Rumani Ho Jaaye and Maati Maay.

He also composed music for Kannada, Oriya, Malayalam and English films and German and Japanese dramas. He received state and national awards for his Marathi film script Atyachar based on atrocities on Dalits. In the 1990s,he started teaching at the National School of Drama, National Institute of Design and a few US universities. He was the artistic director of India International Film Festival, advisor to Ford Foundation in Bangladesh, producer Emeritus for All India Radio and jury member for national and international film and music festival in Kazakhstan. He recently shot 39 episodes on history and development of Indian musical instruments for AIR.